A Tale of Two Cities
By Charles Dickens
Review by Muhammad Muddasir Sohail
“A Tale of Two Cities” is a highly impressive novel written by one of the most popular novelist of nineteenth century, Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens had also written many impressive and wonderful novels like “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield” etc. It is the only historical classics that Dickens ever wrote. The Book under review is an abridged and simplified version of the original novel. This is done to facilitate young readers and students. The book is divided in to four parts. Each part comprises of number of chapters describing the events chronologically.
The theme of the novel is “French Revolution”. The book is set between Paris and London. The plot is strong but slow in development. The language is simple and characters are well defined. The use of pictures in the book should have been avoided because it makes little difference to the overall impression of the book.
The story begins in St. Antoine, one of the poorest districts of Paris, where Mr. Lorry, a banker by profession and an old friend of Dr. Manette, along with Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr. Manette, arrives in a small wineshop. They want to recover Dr. Manette, who was falsely imprisoned eighteen years ago by two evil nobles of Evremonde family. With the help of Mr. Defarge, an old servant of Dr. Manette, they take severely traumatised Dr. Manette to London. During their journey back to London, they met Charles Darnay, a French nobleman of Evremonde family.
Charles Darnay is now facing a trial. He is accused of spying for French King. Dr.Manette and his daughter also appear as witnesses. Mr. Stryver, the Lawyer of Charles Darnay, does his best to save him but it’s the intelligence of Sydney Carton, his assistant, which finally saves Charles Darnay from a death sentence. Sydney Carton resembles a lot in his appearance with Charles Darnay and he uses this point brilliantly during the trial. He appears as a lazy and disappointed man.
The role of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton represents two totally different personalities. Sydney Carton, a lawyer by profession, having immense abilities and intelligence but laziness and pessimism completely overshadowing his personality. On the other hand Charles Darnay, a French nobleman, belongs to a rich Evremonde family. He has an optimistic approach towards life and rejects the tyrannical mindset of his elders. The role of Mr. Defarge and Madam Defarge represents the revolutionist thinking of poor French people
The book describes the suffering of poor people of France and the disgusting manner in which they are treated by Aristocracy and nobles. The extreme poverty of the poor people, and the intolerable atrocities committed by aristocracy, give rise to a bloody revolution in France. After a long and painful struggle against tyrannical rule of French king, they bring out a revolution, which is as brutal and ferocious as treatment at the hand of aristocracy.
During French Revolution, Charles Darnay returns to Paris to save an innocent tax collector, there he is imprisoned and sentence to death by the Guillotine. The events in “A Tale of Two Cities” takes a complete turn when Sydney Carton reaches Paris. This gives rise to some very important question. Whether Charles Darnay survives Guillotine? What role Sydney Carton plays afterwards? Who give the ultimate sacrifice? If you want to know the answers to these questions then you must read “A Tale of Two Cities” till the end.
“A Tale of Two Cities” is an exciting novel and is highly recommended for all ages. The novel gives an in-depth in to the circumstances that led to such a bloody and revengeful revolution. Written in simple language, the book is easy to read and can inspire young readers. The end of the “A Tale of Two Cities” is an interesting one. For those who love historical novels it’s a must read.

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